Each map is a visual guide to where a particular bird species may find the climate conditions it needs to survive in the future. We call this the bird’s “climatic range.”
The colors indicate the season in which the bird may find suitable conditions— blue for winter, yellow for summer (breeding), and green for where they overlap (indicating their presence year-round).
The darker the shaded area, the more likely it is the bird species will find suitable climate conditions to survive there.
The outline of the approximate current range for each season remains fixed in each frame, allowing you to compare how the range will expand, contract, or shift in the future.
The first frame of the animation shows where the bird can find a suitable climate today (based on data from 2000). The next three frames predict where this bird’s suitable climate may shift in the future—one frame each for 2020, 2050, and 2080.
You can play or pause the animation with the orange button in the lower left, or select an individual frame to study by clicking on its year.
Highly sought by birders, this species may found in new areas in winter if the predictions of Audubon’s climate model predictions hold true, as only 13 percent of the current winter range is forecast to remain stable by 2080. Smith’s Longspur depends on short, grassy areas and fallow fields for winter habitat, and milder winters could open up nearly two and a quarter times the current area in the future. Of much greater concern, however, the model shows ideal climate space during summer disappearing completely. Smith’s Longspur is a tree line breeding specialist, so if it is to survive it will have to be able to follow the tree line north (and up in elevation).
Explore more birds threatened by climate change around the country.
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